Opening Night.....I mean weekend

Opening Night.... I mean weekend
The Harrisburg City Islanders opening night turned into opening weekend as Saturdays game was postponed until Sunday due to lightning.

Report:
Over 2,000 people were in the stands as the game Saturday night got under way. Pre-game ceremonies involved last years captain Chris Morman unveiling the 2007 championship banner, the 2007 championship trophy being on display, player introductions, and honorary team member Sean Brame presenting the official game ball. As the game got under way much of the play happened in the midfield. Both teams looked solid and Cleveland had a few early chances and so did Harrisburg. That was pretty much the calm before the storm..... literally.

Two storms came. One saturday night, that forced the game to be postponed due to lightning. The other storm came on the field late in the second half on Sunday. A few factors were involved. Cleveland was looking to redeem themselves from last years playoff loss to Harrisburg, Harrisburg wanted to win their home opener, and a few cautions later the game ended 1-1. Ian Leibbrandt was issued a red card in stoppage time and the re-match is set for Cleveland next week. Another storm in the forecast? We'll see. One thing is for sure. It will be a hard fought game no matter what.

As for the storm that came Saturday night causing the game to be postponed..... my favorite line in the stands I heard was, "the dark stuff is behind us, and the wind is blowing it away. We'll be fine." I also heard, "was that lightning? Nope just a flash from a camera." Funny thing is, both of those quotes came from me! Hey, I never claimed to be a weatherperson.

Former City Islander Derek Potteiger netted the goal in the 59th minute for Cleveland while Nate "Shake & Bake" Baker scored for Harrisburg on a PK in the 65th minute. Cleveland looked very impressive to me and I think they will be a real threat this season. Harrisburg played well also. I would have loved to see us get a win instead of a tie, but considering we played the game without Ryan Pierce (Baltimore Blast), Anthony Calvano, and Mo Odur I think we take our one point and move on. Any doubts about filling the void left by the departure of Matt Nelson were answered. I thought Cepero played a very solid game.

"Green Army" invades City Island
Gotta give huge props to the "Green Army" support group who came the whole way from Cleveland to cheer for their team. I was especially impressed to see that almost all of them, if not all of them, came back sunday afternoon! It was nice chatting with you guys/gals on sunday. You do a great job of supporting your team and the USL second division. I am just glad we were able to tie it up!

Before the game saturday night, I sat there looking around, and the crowd of over 2,000 people was made up of mostly dark and light blue shirts and jerseys. The person sitting in front of me asked if fans from other cities usually attended the games. I said, "No, not usually." Just then I heard the "Green Army" marching down to the field from the parking lot. I saw a large mass of green coming, and I said, "Oh wait..... YUP. These guys will have fans here. And they WILL be loud." Again, mad props guys. You were even better sunday because with the game being postponed, and so few people there, I heard almost every chant and cheer. Keep up the hard work....... just not TOO much when you play Harrisburg. But feel free to torture the other teams all you want!

Baltimore Blast / former City Islanders win MISL title
The Baltimore Blast won the MISL title Saturday night. Congrats go to Ryan Pierce (who will now report to Harrisburg for the remainder of the USL-2 season) and former City Islanders Dave Kern, Mike Lookingland, and David Bascome. Also do not forget that Brian "Sushi"Devlin appeared earlier in the season with the Blast as well.

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